--- title: "In Newly-Released Audio, SBF Admits He’s “Done Net Harm to the World”" description: "In newly-released audio recorded by journalist Tiffany Fong, former crypto CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said he had done \"net harm to the world.\"" date: "2023-11-08" modified: "2023-11-08" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/newly-released-audio-sbf-admits-net-harm" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "effective altruism" - "ftx" - "sam bankman-fried" - "the digest" --- # In Newly-Released Audio, SBF Admits He’s “Done Net Harm to the World” ![In newly-released audio recorded by journalist Tiffany Fong, former crypto CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said he had done "net harm to the world."]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Net Harm Last week, FTX cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty on all seven counts, concluding a tumultuous trial. The disgraced crypto baron is now facing a "very long sentence" for defrauding investors out of a whopping $8 billion, per judge Lewis Kaplan, and is now facing a maximum of [110 years behind bars](). Where's the one-time wunderkind mentally? It's tough to say, but in [newly-released audio]() recorded by journalist Tiffany Fong, who held several interview sessions with Bankman-Fried while he was on house arrest earlier this year, the former CEO admitted a surprising degree of culpability. "If my life ended now I would have almost certainly done net harm to the world and... it’s hard to spin that," he told Fong in a [clip shared on X]() after she asked him how he felt about spending the rest of his life in prison. "The fact that I have done that harm weighs enormously on me," he added. https://twitter.com/TiffanyFong_/status/1720431027477184964 ## Effective Greed It's a depressing admission, underlining Bankman-Fried's [outspoken commitment to the "effective altruism" community](), a philosophical movement arguing that we should use all our resources to maximize the amount of good in the world. He publicly supported these efforts by [donating millions]() to charities. In practice, however, as Bankman-Fried admitted himself, robbing investors of billions of dollars probably far outweighed the good those donations did. But it's not like prosecutors needed to hear that from him anyway. Last week, the jury took a [mere four hours and change]() to complete their deliberations, convicting Bankman-Fried on all seven counts. His efforts to take the witness stand at his own fraud trial likely [only exacerbated the issue](), with his hemming and hawing and [absurd non-answers]() drawing significant criticism. In short, it's tough to empathize with Bankman-Fried — but at least he's showing some degree of remorse for what he did. **More on SBF:** *[SBF's Former Assistant Says He Was Like a Little Boy Who Made a Huge Mistake]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()